Bleach is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Tite Kubo.Compilation volumes of the manga have sold over 61 million copies in Japan and reached the top of manga sales charts in the United States. The anime adaptation has been similarly received, rating as the 4th most popular anime television series in Japan in 2006, and in the top ten anime for the US from 2006 to 2008. cosplay The series received the Shogakukan Manga Award for the shōnen demographic in 2005, and is among the best-selling manga properties in both Japan and the United States.
The story opens with the sudden appearance of one of the Soul Reapers in the Japanese version), a military order who escorts the souls of the dead, named Rukia Kuchiki in teenager Ichigo Kurosaki’s bedroom. She is surprised at his ability to see her, but their conversation is interrupted by the appearance of a “hollow”, an evil Cheap Cosplay spirit who was originally a human soul. After Rukia is severely wounded while trying to protect Ichigo, she attempts to transfer half of her reiatsu to Ichigo in order to let him face the hollow on equal footing. Ichigo unintentionally absorbs almost all her energy, allowing him to defeat the hollow with ease. The next day Rukia appears in Ichigo’s classroom as a seemingly normal human, and informs Ichigo that his absorption of her powers has left her stranded in the human world until she recovers her strength. In the meantime Ichigo shelters Rukia in his home and takes over her job as a Soul Reaper, battling hollows and guiding lost souls to the afterlife realm known as Soul Society, Sōru Sosaeti?.
In the sixth volume of the series, Rukia’s Soul Reaper superiors find out about her giving her powers away (which is illegal in Soul Society) and send a detachment to arrest her, and sentence her to death. Ichigo is unable to stop Rukia’s capture, but with the help of several of his classmates who also possess spiritual abilities and ex-Soul Reaper Captain Kisuke Urahara, he sets off for the Soul Reaper base, located in Soul Society. Once there, Ichigo and company battle against the elites of the Soul Reaper military.
It is then revealed that Rukia’s execution and Ichigo’s rescue attempt were both manipulated by Sōsuke Aizen, a high ranking Soul Reaper previously believed to be murdered, as part of a far-reaching plot to take control of Soul Society. Aizen betrays his fellow Soul Reapers and allies himself with the strongest hollows, arrancar, becoming the main antagonist of the series, and Ichigo teams up with his former enemies in Soul Society after learning that the next step in Aizen’s plan involves the destruction of his hometown to make the King’s Key, which Aizen plans to use for his own intentions. However, Ichigo goes with a few friends to the Hollow’s world, Hueco Mundo, Ueko Mundo?, in order to rescue their friend Orihime Inoue who was kidnapped by Aizen in order to reduce the number of Soul Reapers defending Soul Society. At this point, Bleach chronicles the war between Aizen and the Soul Society, a plotline which has not yet been resolved. According to Tite Kubo, the ending of the series is not yet planned out or written.
Bleach has been continuously serialized in the Japanese manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Jump since August 2001, and has been collected in 45 tankōbon volumes as of June 2010[update]. Since its publication, Bleach has spawned a substantial media franchise. The manga has been adapted into an animated television series produced by Studio Pierrot which is still ongoing in Japan as it adapts the story from the manga. The series has also spawned two original video animations (OVAs), three animated feature films, seven rock musicals, and numerous video games, Bleach Cosplay as well as prompted the release of many types of Bleach-related merchandise.